(3) Lewis Scott, Celtic Pride vs. (6) Butch McRae, Blue Chips

THE RULES

Butch McRae had felt like this since the day it all started. By the day it all started, he meant the afternoon after practice at Western when he came storming into Pete Bell’s office.

“What is it Butch?” Bell had asked him, only caring to a certain point as he fidgeted around the room, drawing on the whiteboard or grabbing a soda. Read More »

Dirk used a lot of magic this spring in the NBA, but he saved a little something for Turkey. Nowitzki made four huge free throws in the final few seconds to beat Turkey by six. He had 19 for the game, but 13 of those came in the second half. You know Dirk’s one-footed fadeaways? Is there any shot ever that’s crazier? When he’s feeling it, like he was yesterday, he doesn’t even look, just turns his shoulder and chucks the ball at the hoop. The only way that works is through millions of repetitions. Read More »

(3) Lewis Scott, Celtic Pride vs. (14) Henry Steele, One on One

THE RULES

We wondered, right up until tip, whether this game would ever tip-off. The arena was dead silent. The few fans that were allowed in off the street weren’t even sure what to do. In Salt Lake City, most of them have never even heard of one-on-one. The only kids who play ball walk around and shoot on the retractable hoops in their backyards. There are no playgrounds, no one is playing for anything. It’s all too nice. No attitude. Read More »

The line stretches almost around the block. There’s a girl, black hair pulled back in a pony tail, with a Spalding basketball nestled between her arm and torso. A man with an afro squints forward, his eyes panning through the line ahead of him before reaching down with a finger to clean a sliver of dirt off his Jordans and adjusting a device on his ankle. Towards the back, a man dressed in rags is telling anyone that’ll listen that he could once grab a quarter off the top of the backboard. Read More »